Stripe to acquire OpenRouter for $7.5 billion, expanding into AI model market

Published Aug 20, 06:22 PM UTC

Stripe announced on Wednesday its acquisition of OpenRouter, a startup popular among developers for accessing open-weight AI models, including those from Chinese labs like DeepSeek and Z.ai. The deal, valued at approximately $7.5 billion according to the New York Times, includes $1.5 billion allocated to OpenRouter's founders. This marks a significant expansion for the payments company into the AI model market, following its $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge last year. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison stated the acquisition will help businesses maximize profitability by intelligently routing AI requests and efficiently spending tokens. OpenRouter, which raised $113 million at a $1.3 billion valuation just three months ago, said joining Stripe will support a diverse AI ecosystem. Stripe, valued at nearly $160 billion, aims to build economic infrastructure for AI through this deal.